Four of the five finalists nominated for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – the Mies van der Rohe Award – involve leisure-related architecture.
Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei’s Ravensburg Art Museum,
Bjarke Ingels Group’s Danish Maritime Museum, Archea Associati’s Antinori Winery, and Barozzi / Veiga’s Philharmonic Hall Szczecin all made the cut from a previous shortlist of 40, with the winner to be announced on 8 May.
The O’Donnell + Tuomey-designed Saw Swee Hock Student Centre at the London School of Economics is the other finalist.
The biennial European Union award was founded in 1987 and offers a €60,000 ($65,000, £43,000) prize for what the jury considers to be the best European architecture project under two years old.
Jury members are currently visiting the five finalist works with the aim of collecting first hand information. The creators of each project will then present their work at an event open to all on 7 May, before the 2015 laureates are announced at a special ceremony at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona the following day.
The 2015 Prize exhibition, which showcases all 420 projects originally nominated, will also open on 8 May at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion.
David Chipperfield Architects, Foster + Partners, OMA and Zaha Hadid are among the previous winners of the award.
